Device for disinfecting water flowing through a sanitary system

ABSTRACT

A device for sterilizing water flowing through a sanitary appliance has a housing, which comprises an inlet and an outlet for the water; a UV lamp, which is disposed inside the housing and the radiation of which is directed towards the water flowing through; and a throughflow chamber for the water, which is disposed in the housing and surrounds the UV lamp.

The invention relates to a device for sterilizing water flowing througha sanitary appliance, having

a) a housing, which comprises an inlet and an outlet for the water;

b) a UV lamp, which is disposed inside the housing and the radiation ofwhich is directed towards the water flowing through; and

c) a throughflow chamber for the water, which is disposed in the housingand surrounds the UV lamp.

In recent years the dangers arising in the field of sanitation fromwater contaminated with micro-organisms, in particular bacteria, amoebaeor other monocellular organisms, have become ever clearer. For saidreason, increased importance is being attached to water sterilization.In said connection, there have been reports of experiments to sterilizeflowing water through exposure to UV light, which is of a wavelengthsuitable for killing micro-organisms carried along in the water.

Such devices therefore irradiate, and hence sterilize, the water flowingthrough the throughflow chamber. The efficiency of such a device isinfluenced not only by the operating parameters of the lamp but also bywhether the water actually flows through the entire throughflow chamber.Any dead spaces, in which air or other gases collect, inside thethroughflow chamber lead to non-optimum efficiency of the UV lampbecause this means that not all of the throughflow chamber accessible toirradiation is available for sterilizing purposes. If, allowing for suchdead spaces, an adequate sterilizing effect is nevertheless to beachieved, a corresponding increase in the lamp wattage is thereforenecessary. This is, on the one hand, expensive and may, on the otherhand, lead to undesirable side effects such as an increase in thetemperature of the removed water and/or of the sanitary appliance.

The object of the present invention is therefore to develop a device ofthe type described initially in such a way that the sterilizingefficiency of the UV lamp is increased.

Said object is achieved according to the invention in that a ventingdevice is provided which removes the air or gas, which collects in thethroughflow chamber, through the outlet.

Such a venting device eliminates the previously described dead spacesand therefore increases the sterilizing efficiency of the UV lamp andhence of the entire device. By virtue of the fact that removal of theair or gas, which undesirably collects in the dead spaces, is effectedthrough the outlet, it is not necessary to provide special vent bores inthe housing of the sanitary appliance, which would additionally entailmeasures to prevent water escaping from the sanitary appliance.

In an advantageous refinement of the invention, the venting devicecomprises a constriction of the flow area in the region of thedownstream end of the throughflow chamber. Such a constriction leads toan increase of the flow rate of the water flowing, during removal,through the region of the constriction. Air or gas bubbles situated inthe upstream catchment area of said increased flow rate are, as it were,sucked out of the throughflow chamber and so troublesome dead spaces areeliminated.

The constriction of the flow area is advantageously formed by adischarge bore in a partition between the throughflow chamber and anoutlet chamber. In said manner, the constriction may be easily andinexpensively realized. The previously described suction characteristicof said constriction may be adapted by means of the pipe diameter to theprevailing conditions.

In a further advantageous refinement of the invention, the throughflowchamber is so designed that its highest region is situated at thedownstream end of the throughflow chamber. The result of such a designis that air or gas bubbles forming in the throughflow chamber areconveyed, on the one hand, by virtue of the flow action and, on theother hand, by virtue of their buoyancy towards the downstream end ofthe throughflow chamber, where they may then be removed through theoutlet.

The longitudinal axis of the throughflow chamber is in said caseadvantageously inclined relative to the horizontal. Thus, the previouslydescribed design of the throughflow chamber may be achieved withoutincurring additional outlay for manufacturing its shape.

An embodiment of the invention is described in greater detail below withreference to the drawings; said drawings show:

FIG. 1 an interrupted section through a bathtub outlet, which isprovided with a device for sterilizing water running through it;

FIG. 2 a section through FIG. 1 along line II—II to a slightly enlargedscale; and

FIG. 3 a side view of the entire bathtub outlet in assembled position.

The bathtub outlet, which is denoted as a whole by the referencecharacter 1, comprises a substantially hollow-cylindrical housing jacket2 which is closed at one end, situated on the right in FIG. 1 andadjacent to a building wall, by an assembly base 3 and at its oppositeend by an outlet head 4. Assembly base 3 and outlet head 4 are fitted onthe housing jacket 2 in each case by means of a grub screw 5 or 6, whichpenetrates the housing jacket 2 and engages into a circumferentialgroove 7 or 8 in the assembly base 3 or outlet head 4 respectively.

The water for removal through the bathtub outlet 1 is introduced via awater supply connection (not shown in the drawings) initially into anannular inlet 10 of the bathtub outlet 1 situated inside the assemblybase 3. The inlet 10 is delimited in a radially inward direction by abackplate 11 for holding a UV lamp denoted as a whole by 12. Besides theholder for the UV lamp 12, the backplate 11 comprises a bushing 13 forreceiving electric connecting cables (not shown) of the UV lamp 12. Theend of the UV lamp 12 directed towards the backplate 11 is sealed off toprevent water penetration by means of two sealing rings 14, which aresituated in corresponding inner circumferential grooves of the backplate11.

From the inlet 10 the water passes through a screen 15, which is fittedinto the housing jacket 2 by means of a flange ring 39, into anante-chamber 16. Upon transfer from said ante-chamber 16 into athroughflow chamber 17, the water has to overcome the increased flowresistance of an annular baffle plate 18, which reduces the flow area insuch a way that it is limited to a radially inner sub-region of theoriginal flow area. The throughflow chamber 17 is substantially in theshape of a hollow cylinder, of which the outer lateral surface is formedby the housing jacket 2 and the inner lateral surface is formed by aprotective tube 19. The protective tube 19 at its upstream end is sealedby the backplate 11 and at its downstream end is integrally closed. Itis made of UV-transmitting quartz glass. At its downstream end face, thethroughflow chamber 17 is delimited by a through-insert 20. Upstreamrelative to the assembly base 3 and downstream relative to thethrough-insert 20 the throughflow chamber 17 is sealed off from theoutside by sealing rings 21 and 22, which are situated in correspondingcircumferential grooves of the assembly base 3 and through-insert 20respectively.

The through-insert 20 is fixed on the outlet head 4 by means of a grubscrew 23, which penetrates the outlet head 4 and engages into acircumferential groove 24 in the through-insert 20.

Opening into an end face 32 of the through-insert 20 delimiting thethroughflow chamber 17 is a through-bore 25, which is situated in FIG. 1above the UV lamp 12 and connects the throughflow chamber 17 to anannular sub-chamber 26. The radially outer surface of the sub-chamber 26is formed by a ring 27, which transmits UV light and around which aredisposed two sealing rings 28 and 29, which are situated incorresponding circumferential grooves of the through-insert 20 andoutlet head 4 respectively and seal off the sub-chamber 26 from theoutside.

From the sub-chamber 26 the water finally flows into an outlet chamber30, which is delimited by the downstream end of the protective tube 19and by the outlet head 4 and communicates with an air spout 31.

The sectional view of FIG. 2 shows how the through-bore 25 is positionedat the end face 32 of the through-insert 20 forming the downstreamdelimitation of the throughflow chamber 17. A radially outer surfaceregion 33 of the end face 32 extends perpendicular to the lamp axis,while a radially inner surface region 34 takes the form of a conicalsurface, which is inclined in such a way that the axial dimension of thethrough-insert 20 increases in the direction of the UV lamp 12. The—inFIG. 2—top edge, which the through-bore 25 together with the end face 32forms, coincides with the edge region 35 which is formed by the adjacentsurface regions 33 and 34.

FIG. 2 shows, from the inside out, the following concentrically disposedelements (cf. also FIG. 1): a hollow-cylindrical lamp body 36 of the UVlamp 12, the protective tube 19, the end face 32 and the housing jacket2.

As FIG. 3 reveals, in the assembled position the centre line 37 of thebathtub outlet 1 is inclined relative to the horizontal in such a waythat the downstream end of the bathtub outlet 1 is higher than theupstream end. The angle between the centre line 37 and the horizontal 38is denoted by α.

The venting device of the described device for sterilizing wateroperates as follows:

When a valve (not shown in the drawings) is opened, water flows via theinlet 10, past the screen 15 and the baffle plate 18 into thethroughflow chamber 17. From the throughflow chamber 17 the water flowsthrough the through-bore 25 and the sub-chamber 26 into the outletchamber 30, which communicates with the air spout 31 and from which thewater is removed. Air bubbles, which are situated during removal in thethroughflow chamber 17, move under the effect of buoyancy, optionallyalso assisted by the entraining power of the water, into the highestregion of the throughflow chamber 17. Said region, owing to theinclination of the bathtub outlet 1 described in connection with FIG. 3,is the region in the vicinity of the through-bore 25. The air, whichcollects there under the effect of buoyancy and as a result of the flowof the removed water, is entrained out of said region, as a result ofthe increased flow rate inside the through-bore 25, and through thelatter and removed through the outlet head 4 and the air spout 31. Thethroughflow chamber 17 is therefore constantly vented during waterremoval.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device for sterilizing water flowing through a sanitary appliance, having a) a housing, which comprises an inlet and an outlet for the water; b) a UV lamp, which is disposed inside the housing and the radiation of which is directed towards the water flowing through; and c) a throughflow chamber for the water, which is disposed in the housing and surrounds the UV lamp; wherein d) a venting device (25) is provided which removes the air or gas, which collects in the throughflow chamber (17), through the outlet (4).
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the venting device (25) comprises a constriction of the flow area in the region of the downstream end of the throughflow chamber (17).
 3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the constriction of the flow area is formed by a discharge bore (25) in a partition (20) between the throughflow chamber (17) and an outlet chamber (30).
 4. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the uppermost portion (9) of the throughflow chamber (17) is situated at the downstream end of the throughflow chamber (17).
 5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the longitudinal axis (37) of the throughflow chamber (17) is inclined relative to the horizontal (38). 